Only going on the first read but... this felt damn good. Love the art from Zama and Burcham. It's a touch confusing with some of the new characters but it has a similar feel to Sins of the wreckers without being as washed out.

The story itself felt strong and had more direction than Barber sometimes gets across. Possibly because he is working from a position which he has created. There is throwbacks to older IDW stuff of course but most of the set up has beens barbers and his writing feels more confident because of this.

I tend to feel Barber works well at set up, great in one shots and terrible when it comes to pacing (parts 1 and 2 of his arcs are grand, then he struggles with how to pace and fill the middle before a big rushed ending typically) so it could still go all badly, but this was a strong start for the new comic.

Actually looking at things - although some of Til all are one have been rushed the last 2 issues felt strong and with Optimus Prime starting well, MTMTE has competition as the best TF comic on the current market for the first time in a while. IDW in a good starting place *awaits inevitable IDW implosion when sales dont meet expectations*

It was the visual equivalent of having your stomach rubbed. Great stuff.

The issue itself, I liked more than I was expecting, which is a relief after how Ex-RID ended. A firm back to basics approach that probably isn't as drastic a departure as the art makes it seem (still that ponderous narration), but a lot of the dead wood has been cut out. No Blackrock. No Spike. both bonuses.

Having not read the previews I was initially worried seeing a Pax flashback as that feels like James' territory and Barber didn't do such a great job with it when following up on Senator Shockwave, but here it worked and had some nice anger to it. I do think we need to see a story covering events from Pax's first meeting with Zeta to the later becoming Prime though. Without any idea of what Zeta did to so impress Orion, he can't help but feel really stupidly naive in needing his eyes opened to the truth again after all that's happened.

The present day stuff was solid as well, I don't even mind the Quintessons and thought some smart steps were taken to make it an interesting cliffhanger for anyone who hasn't heard of them.

Main worries are: The first issue is usually the strongest in any Barber arc. Will this go off the rails as previous ones have as they went along?

Also, as I and my homies discuss on an upcoming podcast, as season one showed it's incredibly hard to write a journey of self discovery for Optimus Prime that doesn't end with him discovering he's Optimus Prime. It could wind up being quite a frustrating thing if he has that revelation again.

Had fun pretending this was the first issue of the earth-based title I'd read, which is unfortunately not quite true. History, tight recap, cliffhanger moving things forward. Smart retro visuals. It worked.